Natural gas-powered cars could soon be refuelled at home in the US

Date: 14/11/2012

Work is underway on developing an appliance that would allow those who drive cars powered by natural gas to refuel their vehicles at home.

The device would cost around $500 (£315) at retail and may even boost sales of this type of environmentally friendly car due to the convenience it would offer.

A partnership between Chesapeake Energy Corp, General Electric Co and Whirlpool Corp has been formed in order to bring about the development of the instrument, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Chesapeake is working to promote natural gas as a mainstream fuel and there is currently a large glut of the resource.

According to the US Energy Information Administration, stockpiles of natural gas in the United States alone stood at 3.929 trillion cubic feet last week, which is the highest level ever recorded.

This has brought prices down and means that it could be one of the cheaper ways to fuel a car in the future.

There are currently around 112,000 natural gas-powered vehicles on American roads, but the majority of these are delivery vehicles.

This is because they drive on set routes where they know there is easy access to refuelling stations, meaning that they are never caught short.

According to the US Department of Energy just 540 stations are in operation, which is not enough if more natural gas-powered cars and passenger trucks are to be produced.

Aubrey McClendon, Chief Executive Officer for Chesapeake, said that the device under development would fit into a driver's garage at home and be hooked up to a natural gas line.

He said that Toyota and (GM) General Motors would likely increase their manufacturing of natural gas-powered cars if such a device became available.

"When GM and Toyota see that, you’ll see the cars flying out," he said.

Meanwhile, Sharon Basel, spokeswoman for GM, said: "Providing a refuelling infrastructure is exactly the kind of thing that needs to happen to expand the use of alternative fuels."

Posted by Nick Anderson

International Transport News and Sustainable Transport News